Center funding is no boon

December 20, 2017

Our Florida legislators are fast-tracking bills through the legislature that can potentially be dangerous to women. These bills (HB 41 and SB 444) legitimize and permanently fund with taxpayer dollars CPCs that judge, shame, and mislead women about pregnancy.

According to a report from the National Women's Law Center, crisis pregnancy clinics (often referred to as CPCs) are just another effort by anti-abortion groups to dissuade pregnant women from having abortions, despite its being a legal and safe medical procedure. Deception is often used, starting with using the name "clinic" to suggest a reproductive health center covering all options/services, which in fact, they do not.

There are at least 120 CPCs operating in Florida. Many of these CPCs locate themselves in close proximity to legitimate reproductive health care facilities. Many patients have mistakenly visited a CPC because it was on the same street - or even next door -to the actual abortion provider where they had an appointment.

Deceptive CPCs have also been known to give incomplete or incorrect information about options; frighten women with misleading/false claims, films and pictures about abortion, lie to women about medical and emotional effects of abortion, tell a woman she is not pregnant even if she is, possibly keeping her from getting appropriate care; and discourage women from using safe and effective birth control methods.

Women should be trusted to make their own decisions about their bodies, in accordance with their faith and the best medical advice of a trusted physician.